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George Michael
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. He was widely known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit Wham! singles such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Last Christmas" and solo albums such as Faith (1987) and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990). Michael achieved seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including "Careless Whisper", "Praying for Time" and “Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me”. In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael the most played artist on British radio during the period 1984–2004.2 Michael ranks among the best-selling British musical acts. In 2008, he was ranked 40th on Billboard's list of the Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time. Michael won various music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Michael's first tour in 15 years, the 25 Live tour, spanned three tours over the course of three years (2006, 2007, and 2008). He performed his final concert at London's Earls Court on 17 October 2012. Michael revealed that he was gay in 1998, and became an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser. Michael's personal life and legal troubles made headlines during the late 1990s and 2000s, as he was arrested for public lewdness in 1998 and was arrested for multiple drug-related offenses after that time. The 2005 documentary A Different Story covered his career and personal life. In the early hours of 25 December 2016, Michael, aged 53, was found dead at his home in Goring-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Early life George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25 June 1963 in East Finchley, London. His father, Kyriacos Panayiotou (nicknamed "Jack"), was a Greek Cypriot restaurateur who emigrated to England in the 1950s. His mother, Lesley Angold (née Harrison), was an English dancer. In June 2008, Michael told the Los Angeles Times that his maternal grandmother was Jewish, but she married a non-Jewish man and raised her children with no knowledge of their Jewish background due to her fear during World War II. Michael spent most of his childhood in Kingsbury, London, in the home his parents bought soon after his birth; he attended Roe Green Junior School and Kingsbury High School. His older sisters are Yioda and Melanie. While he was in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There, Michael attended Bushey Meads School in Bushey, where he befriended his future Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley. The two had the same career ambition of being musicians. Michael busked on the London Underground, performing songs such as "'39" by Queen. His involvement in the music business began with his working as a DJ, playing at clubs and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore, and Watford. This was followed by the formation of a short-lived ska band called The Executive, with Ridgeley, Ridgeley's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver, and David Mortimer (later known as David Austin). The High life During the late 1980s, Michael had a relationship with Chinese-American make-up artist Kathy Jeung, who was regarded for a time as his artistic "muse" and who appeared in the "I Want Your Sex" video. Michael later said that she had been his "only bona fide" girlfriend, and that she knew of his bisexuality. In 2016, Jeung reacted to Michael's death by calling him a "true friend" with whom she had spent "some of the best time of her life". Michael's homosexuality became publicly known following his April 1998 arrest for public lewdness. In 2007, Michael said "that hiding his sexuality made him feel 'fraudulent', and his eventual outing, when he was arrested ... in 1998, was a subconsciously deliberate act." Michael struggled with substance abuse. He was arrested for drug-related offenses in 2006, 2008, and 2010. Michael also abused sleeping pills. In February 2006, Michael was arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as "my own stupid fault, as usual". He was cautioned by the police and released. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to drug–impaired driving after obstructing the road at traffic lights in Cricklewood in northwest London, and was subsequently banned from driving for two years and sentenced to community service. On 19 September 2008, Michael was arrested in a public restroom in the Hampstead Heath area for possession of Class A and C drugs. He was taken to the police station and cautioned for controlled substance possession. On 12 August 2010, London's Metropolitan Police said he was "charged with possession of cannabis and with driving while unfit through drink or drugs". The report included that Michael had also been taking the prescription medication . On 24 August, the singer pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court in London after admitting driving under the influence of drugs. On 14 September 2010, at the same court, Michael was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, a fine, and a five-year ban from driving. On 16 May 2013, Michael sustained a head injury when he fell from his moving car on the M1 motorway, near St Albans in Hertfordshire, and was airlifted to hospital. Death In the early hours of 25 December 2016, Michael died in bed at his home in Goring-on-Thames, aged 53. He was found by his Australian partner, Fadi Fawaz. In March 2017, a senior coroner in Oxfordshire attributed the death to dilated cardiomyopathy with myocarditis and a fatty liver. Due to the delay in determining the cause of death, Michael's funeral was delayed until 29 March 2017. In a private ceremony, he was buried at Highgate Cemetery in north London, near his mother's grave. That summer an informal memorial garden was created outside his former home in Highgate. The site, in a private square that Michael had owned, is tended by fans. Category:George Michael Wiki